The Temples of Angkor: Day One

Ian and I were joined by a Canadian girl from the hostel (totally forgotten her name!) and after buying our 3-day passes we headed out for our first Angkor Temple action! On the way, we got these Cambodian snacks called Krolan – sticky rice with coconut and red bean, fire roasted inside bamboo! I thought they were great. Very cheap, filling and tasty! You peel the bamboo strips down like a banana to eat it.

Beng Mealea is by no means central, its 77Ks out of Siem Reap and 40Ks from the main temple group, theres also an extra $5 toll for the road heading out there. But its worth it! And because of the distance it is less popular for tourists which makes it even better! No crowds!

This temple is real Indiana Jones style, it hasn’t been restored and is basically left as found. Half of it is rubble, there are vines and moss growing all over it, and while there are suggested paths you’re allowed to just trek through it however you see fit. We were climbing up on walls, rocks, under things etc. “Don’t go in that section. Snakes.” one of the staff warned us haha. It’s like stumbling onto a lost city! Really cool. Much better than the supposed jungle experience of the Tomb Raider Temple.

We spent an hour or two walking all over the temple, then outside it and spotted a huge millipede! Then headed back to our Tuk Tuk and on to the Ruoluos Group.

Rolous is a small town 13Ks from Siem Reap, and the Roluos Group has some of the earliest permanent structures built by Khmer. Lolei and Preah Ko are relatively small, and we finished at Bakong for sunset! It is a sandstone temple mountain and has a garden arond it. It’s surrounged by trees and they were filled with cicadas, they were all buzzing in sync and making a sort of vocal mexican wave as the sound kept circling around us.

The Temples of Angkor: Day 2, Angkor Wat & Bayon »« Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor Plan